Vancouver-based studio Hothead Games (Penny Arcade Adventures, DeathSpank) and UTV Ignition Entertainment announced that they will co-publish Swarm, a new comedy action game, next year.

Hothead initially created the project as a submission to Telefilm Canada's Great Canadian Video Game Competition. Picked as one of four finalists in the competition, Hothead used its $300,000 prize money to develop a prototype for Swarm, which won the People's Choice award (voted by audience) in Telefilm's competition.

In the game, players take control of 50 Swarmites, bug-eyed and blue creatures, throwing them in "intense, entertaining, and often suicidal battles for a greater good." The Swarmites run, bash, jump, push, and throw their way through "gauntlets of death and destruction" in an effort to collect DNA that will ensure that at least one Swarmite survives.

Hothead and UTV expect to release Swarm worldwide across all major digital download platforms in early 2011 -- which will follow up the other title it has in the works, DeathSpank, an action RPG designed by Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert and releasing for Xbox 360/PS3 later this year.

"Swarm is very special to Hothead - it's an idea we've nurtured for a while," says Hothead Games' Game Technology director Joel DeYoung. "We are excited to work with Ignition to make sure everyone hears about and ultimately gets a chance to play Swarm, Hothead's next great game."